Sunday bike

Only having a few hours this Sunday afternoon I decided to explore and ended up following the route of the disused Naas Tullow railway. Total distance 33.8 miles, average speed 13.3 mph. The OSI map viewer helpfully gives the railway route as a grey line and I have noted a few Points of Interest that I stopped at. In case you are interested in disused railways...

POI on OSI map

Zooming in on POI #1

An aerial view of POI #1 makes this part of the route look rather interesting and possibly navigable by foot however, when I got there, closer inspection shows it would be hard going!

POI #1 looking North

The next crossing was a granite bridge which, surprisingly, was in excellent condition.

POI #2

POI #2 and my trusty steed

What little remains of the bridge at POI #3

POI #4 at Colbinstown

The last crossing I found was an iron bridge near Colbinstown - a residence has been built over the track route on one side of this bridge and on the other is farmland with no visible trace of the railway route. And the railway was last in use within my lifetime so not very long ago.

The N81 from Merginstown Glen road

There is a sign to "Merginstown Glen" off the N81 near Donard. The name intrigued me so my return route took me via this road which runs along the top of the Carrigower river valley through which the N81 runs - you can see both just beyond the horses in my picture.

BTW the Naas -Tullow railway bridge over the Liffey in described in my previous post.

Irish railways

In a previous post I claimed to be a mild siderodromomaniac and so it is with considerable shame that I confess that I have only recently realised that the Irish track gauge is 5' 3" (1600mm) and not the standard gauge 4' 8.5" of the UK. You'd think...

Wikipedia has a nice animated map illustrating the progressive axing of railways in Ireland, similar to what happened in the UK under Beeching. Or here for a good history. Here is the best map I could find of the rail network before the axing. Click on the image to enlarge it or view the original.

So what? I hear you say. I find the past of interest when I discover remnants: reminders of days gone by. For example my post about the bridge over the Liffey that carried the Naas to Tullow line. Or when I hear glad tidings about plans to create more Irish greenways some of which use the course of disused railways. Here's one that is already open which I would like to explore. 

I sometimes look for remnants when running or by comparing on-line satellite imagery with old maps - see this post. Ordnance Survey Ireland (osi) has a handy on-line map viewer that can superimpose modern aerial imagery with historic maps dating back to 1830's and 1900's. 

And, whilst not wanting to grow older any faster than my present escalating rate, I look forward to using my promised free pass on all Irish public transport.